38th Infantry Regiment, organized near Decatur,
Georgia, during the summer of 1861, contained thirteen companies
and 1,200 men. First called Wright's Legion, it served at Skidaway
Island and Savannah. In May, 1862, when it was ordered to Virginia,
two companies were detached and one transferred. The remaining
ten were from the counties of De Kalb, Milton, Emanuel, Oglethorpe,
Hart, Jefferson, Elbert, and Dawson. The 3 8th was assigned to
Lawton's, John B. Gordon's, and C. A. Evans' Brigade, Army of
Northern Virginia. It fought in many conflicts from the Seven
Days' Battles to Cold Harbor, then moved with Early to the Shenandoah
Valley and was active around Appomattox. The unit lost 54 killed
and 118 wounded at Gaines' Mill, sixty?two percent of the 260
engaged at Second Manassas, and seventy?seven percent of the 123
at Sharpsburg. In the fight at Fredericksburg there were 10 killed
and 91 wounded, and of the 341 at Gettysburg, more than thirty?five
percent were disabled. It surrendered with 112, of which 73 were
armed. The field officers were Colonels George W. Lee, James D.
Mathews, and Augustus R. Wright; Lieutenant Colonels Philip E.
Davant and Lewis J. Parr; and Majors Thomas H. Bomar and John
Y. Flowers.